Friday, January 10
KP Arena
7:00 PM
UC Santa Cruz Athletics
10-9,0-0C2C
51
vs
75
UC Merced
4-2,0-1CCAA
1
2
F
UC Merced
34
41
75
UC Santa Cruz
27
24
51
Slugs Fall to UC Merced in Friday Night Matchup at KP Arena
1/10/2025 9:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team fell to UC Merced 75-51 on Friday night at KP Arena. Zino Okah led the team with 12 points and six assists while Andrew Ferrara-Jones and Caden Breznikar both ended the night with eight points. The Banana Slugs are now 10-9 on the season and will have a couple weeks off before traveling to Salisbury, Maryland to take on Salisbury at 3:00pm Pacific Time.
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How It Happened
UC Merced jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before Andrew Ferrara-Jones brought the run to an end with a shot from downtown. The Bearcats made it 7-3 with a layup but a Miles Burrows three kept things close at 7-6. with just over 15 minutes left in the first. From there, UC Merced outscored the Slugs in a slight 13-9 advantage to take a 20-15 lead before using the next four minutes and 22 seconds to extend the lead to 29-20. UC Santa Cruz managed to climb back down the stretch of the half, outscoring the Bearcats 7-5 with three points from Zino Okah while Ryan Wilson and Andrew Ferrara-Jones both chimed in for two to cut the lead to 34-27 at the halftime break.
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The Bearcats struck first after the break, but Okah responded with a three of his own before striking again from distance nearly a minute later, cutting the UC Merced lead to 37-33. The Bearcats quickly responded with an 11-5 run to go up 48-38 with 14:24 on the clock. The Slugs were held scoreless for nearly a minute and a half as UC Merced scored nine straight points to extend their lead to 57-38.
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Ryan Wilson brought the scoring drought to an end with a midrange jumper to help jumpstart the offense with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half. The two teams traded baskets from there, but UC Merced maintained a strong lead at 63-44 with 9:21 left in the contest. The Bearcats closed out the contest on a 12-7 run to defeat the Banana Slugs 75-51.
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How It Happened
UC Merced jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before Andrew Ferrara-Jones brought the run to an end with a shot from downtown. The Bearcats made it 7-3 with a layup but a Miles Burrows three kept things close at 7-6. with just over 15 minutes left in the first. From there, UC Merced outscored the Slugs in a slight 13-9 advantage to take a 20-15 lead before using the next four minutes and 22 seconds to extend the lead to 29-20. UC Santa Cruz managed to climb back down the stretch of the half, outscoring the Bearcats 7-5 with three points from Zino Okah while Ryan Wilson and Andrew Ferrara-Jones both chimed in for two to cut the lead to 34-27 at the halftime break.
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The Bearcats struck first after the break, but Okah responded with a three of his own before striking again from distance nearly a minute later, cutting the UC Merced lead to 37-33. The Bearcats quickly responded with an 11-5 run to go up 48-38 with 14:24 on the clock. The Slugs were held scoreless for nearly a minute and a half as UC Merced scored nine straight points to extend their lead to 57-38.
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Ryan Wilson brought the scoring drought to an end with a midrange jumper to help jumpstart the offense with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half. The two teams traded baskets from there, but UC Merced maintained a strong lead at 63-44 with 9:21 left in the contest. The Bearcats closed out the contest on a 12-7 run to defeat the Banana Slugs 75-51.
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Team Stats
M-30266
M-113
FG%
.483
.305
3FG%
.313
.360
FT%
.706
.462
RB
38
28
TO
17
20
STL
10
6
Game Leaders
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
Wing
/ Men's Basketball
Wing
/ Men's BasketballGuard
/ Men's BasketballGuard
/ Men's Basketball
